Turning the tide on health inequalities: Reversing the uneven health impacts of the crisis in living standards
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The report's executive summary is below. Click here 844 KB to download a pdf version of the full report, and here to access an editable Google doc version.
This report is authored by Ed Pemberton. It is part of a larger project on health inequalities funded by the Health Foundation.
Executive Summary
At Citizens Advice, we see thousands of people every month whose health is being harmed by the ongoing cost of living crisis. The rising pressure on the cost of essentials has been pushing more and more people into severe financial distress. We have been on the frontline of this crisis, which is increasingly a fact of life for many of the people we help.
The health impact of financial stress can be severe. It can impact physical health directly, by placing barriers in the way of people accessing healthy food or safe housing. It can also lead to significant stress, particularly when people experience problem debt. This can cause elevated risk of mental ill health, and potentially longer term health conditions, such as cardiovascular disease. As such, it is vitally important to understand that a living standards crisis is a health crisis.
These impacts do not fall evenly, but are felt most heavily by people living with low incomes, disability or existing health conditions, or in areas experiencing deprivation.
It is for this reason that we are asking the government to ‘turn the tide’ on the crisis in living standards, by taking urgent action on rent, energy costs and debt.
Recommendations:
In the forthcoming Budget, we are asking for the government to do the following, to address the three key areas of the crisis in living standards - housing, energy and debt:
Uprate the Local Housing Allowance to the 30th percentile, so people have support that matches the rising cost of rents.
Provide targeted energy cost support and debt relief to those on the lowest incomes, as well as continuing to support targeted measures to improve energy efficiency.
Strengthen protection from unaffordable repayments, giving people a realistic route out of debt and provide integrated advice to tackle the wider impact of debts.